December

What about the holidays you ask?

We had a lovely Thanksgiving Dinner with our friends Chris, Hillary, Cade and Brix and we also had the missionaries. It was a delightful New England celebration!

Bella and I went to Utah for a few days. On the day we left, we went to a tree farm and equipped Shawn with a fresh Christmas tree while we were gone. That was a great experience.

Bella's hair is long enough for little tiny pig tails.

Shawn's parents helped me surprise Shawn with a trip to New York City. It was our Christmas and birthday gifts and it was delightful. We actually had Shawn packed and everything without him knowing until he and I were halfway to the train station in Hartford.

We saw the Rockettes, Wicked, we went to the temple, had date night in Little Italy, rode a carriage in Central Park, walked down 5th Ave and shopped for a little person we really love at FAO Shwartz and the Disney Store. It was a fantastic vacation!

Cousins in Utah! We really love them and miss them like crazy!!

Bella just began talking while in Utah...I think it is thanks mostly to Abby!

Decorating before Grandma and G-Daddy came to stay with us through Christmas. They watched Bella while we went on our vacation and then they both got terribly sick. Christmas was low-key and nice-except for the sicky bugs!

Helping Dad put the lights on. She was intrigued and learned quickly how to make them turn on and off...

Massachusetts Fall...

This Fall seemed to be shorter than last year. The colors didn't stick around as long and then we had the terrible storm on Halloween. For our family though, we had two straight weeks of visitors and it was delightful!

Grandma came for a visit to spend some time with us. I didn't take any pictures but we had a great time! One day we went to Salem-it was so fun around Halloween. We loved visiting The House of Seven Gables. We spent time in Boston and visited the Boston Children's Museum-which Bella adores-and then we visited the northern part of the Freedom Trail.

We visited the Emily Dickinson museum and enjoyed the opportunity to be together.

The following week, my sisters, Emily and Kristina, and my niece, Leah, came to visit for a few days. We mostly hung out in the Pioneer Valley, but we did take a quick trip to Plymouth.

The Rock...
Governor Bradford's grave marker. We are his 10th great-grandchildren.

The Mayflower-which I thought was very well done by the Plimouth Plantation people. We also ate the most divine clam chowder I think I've ever had.

Emily and Kristina also helped me with a few sewing projects. I needed their help with a couple of blankets I had pieced together, as well as my first attempt at sewing something besides a blanket...Bella's Tinkerbell costume.

I'm so dang proud of myself for having the ability to sew the costume, but I cursed it everyday. Will I do it again? Probably-it was so satisfying when I finally finished it. It was all for naught; however, the "Halloween Storm" started on Saturday and knocked tons of trees down. We went to the ward party for an hour or so and then hurried home in the terrible storm. By 9 pm we were out of power and it didn't come back until Thursday around 7 pm (we were one family of 300-500,000 homes/businesses). Halloween was cancelled and, in the end, I spent weeks on that silly costume so that she could wear it for a couple of hours.

I think I have been traumatized by the event. Thanks to a very kind family in our ward and the Smith College Athletic Department, we had warm places to sleep and take showers after Monday, but it was terrible!

The view out of our front door.

Playing Saturday afternoon-while we still had heat/power/water etc.

Bella was given this cute dress and the cowgirl boots from a family in the ward. She calls them her "doots" and she loves them!

Lovey, Love, Love!!

Summertime cont.

What else did we do this summer???

We drank milk in the playhouse!

Rode our bike that is a teeny bit frustrating because she desperately wants to touch the pedals!

We ALWAYS wore our sunglasses. They were integral to every outing.

Mom made her first pieced quilt that she put together all by herself...um, with a lot of help from Aunt Emily and Aunt Krissy.

We played and played!

Beach Vacay and Birthday

For Bella's Birthday/ Shawn's family get together we went to New Jersey! We stayed in a beautiful beach house with very fun people-and of course-our family. We swam and swam.

We went to Seaside and were treated to some great boardwalk rides and food!

Bella had her first experience on a carousel and yelled "Yehaw! Yehaw!" as loud as she could. She screamed and laughed and as it slowed down she yelled, "No!" "No!" "No!"

I attempted a monkey cake for a little girl who loves monkeys! Especially books about monkeys jumping on the bed! She was spoiled rotten with very fun gifts and we had a fantastic trip!

Utah

We spent a little time in Utah this summer and tried to drink in family time. We were so happy to be there for a little while!


Could Bella be a cowgirl?



Loving Grandpa Ron and Grandma Kris.

Salem Pond with all of the cousins. It was somewhat inpromptu and so much fun!

We love and miss them soooo much!

I'm Just So Grateful... (This was written on Mother's Day-but didn't post)

Today I am just so grateful I get to be a mother. I know what it is like to really have a hard time on Mother's Day-I have been in the trenches-but today I am going to soak up the joy and the gift of it all. This particular part of my life is evidence of God's miracles-I don't deserve her, but I'll take her and love her!





Bella's schedule has been altered for the past four days and she is "a donkey on the edge" in a lot of ways. We made it through the first hour and some of church but there was a great meltdown in nursery. To save everyone from emotional trauma (Bella and her nursery leaders) I picked her up and she came with me to Relief Society. Within minutes, she was snuggled in to me, wrapped in her favorite blanky, and snoring loudly. She never falls asleep in my arms and so, today, that was the greatest gift I could have ever received. I drank in the opportunity to have her in my arms.





Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Easter!!